1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processor to be used in an imposition process during bookbinding, a printing system including the information processor, a method for printing, and a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
In the printing industry, a job an order for which is received from a customer is printed. When a plurality of pages are printed on a sheet of paper, in order to maximize printing profit which is obtained by subtracting cost from sales, a method for printing by applying so-called a “color split function” wherein a page of a monochrome image is printed by a monochrome-printing machine and a page of a color image is printed by a color-printing machine has been widespread.
However, since the color split function is designed to perform printing with a monochrome-printing device and printing with a color-printing device on a paper basis, there are some cases in which even a page of a monochrome image must be printed by the color-printing device whose printing cost is more expensive.
In particular, in a case of performing bookbinding by stitching papers on which printing is performed in the unit of four pages in total, two pages each on both front and back sides, which are then center-folded by being double over, if even one of the four pages has a color image, the remaining three pages may have to be printed by a color-printing device although they are pages of a monochrome image. Thus, there is a problem that the cost advantage of using the color split function is considerably compromised if there exist a number of such papers to be color-printed.
In addition, the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-204679 proposes an image forming apparatus capable of performing a saddle-stitching process, and of automatically changing an imposition process if a maximum set count of pages to be saddle-stitched is exceeded.
However, the technology described in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-204679 is not a technology for reducing a count of color-printed papers as many as possible and thus does not contribute to cost reduction, although the technology can automatically adjust a combination of the saddle-stitching and adhesive binding when the maximum set count of pages to be saddle-stitched is exceeded.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.